My beautiful people-
I have to share something that is very difficult to admit.
My #1 priority (besides spending time with Jesus) is my body image. My day revolves around trying to figure out when I will have time to work out and what it will consist of. As of 2 years ago, I have followed a strict gluten-free diet (stomach reasons) aka I'm forced to eat healthy. I now have issues eating unhealthy food. Let me clarify, this is not a confession to an eating disorder but a struggle of a person who always denied caring about her body image.
Instead of viewing my body as a beautiful creation and work of God, I struggle to not see it as a cheap, knock off brand that belongs on the clearance rack.
We live in a culture that communicates to us that a perfect body leads to the perfect relationship, career and status. Reality check: we were created in God's image therefore we were made for his pleasure and to glorify him.
"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment…Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." -1 Peter 3:3-4
Our culture has twisted the definition of beauty, something that was possessed on the inside has somehow become an outward trait that can be purchased or obtained with sacrifice and hard work.
Men: Know that every woman, no matter how physically attractive struggles with this. It does not take a lady with a low self-esteem to be down on her body image.
Pause for a second, if you looked at the pictures below, which body image seems more beauitul? healthy?
Get my point? We must stop and ask ourselves, to what are we evaluating our beauty? Is it the word of God or the 100's of images we see on a daily basis?
Ask yourself this….
Why do you work out? To respect what God has given you and ensure that the time given to you on earth is not threatened by your health OR to obtain the "perfect" hot body you see modeled on tv?
Why do you eat healthy? Is it out of appreciation for a God who has provided you with food to sustain your body OR is it out of a desire to achieve a slim and "sexy" figure?
or the opposite extreme….
Why do you eat unhealthy? Is it to gain some control over your life when you feel you have none? Is it to release stress or due to feelings of inadequacy?
Ladies- Why do we dress the way we do? Is it to demonstrate God's quality work and help our men stay focused on our God OR to turn heads and trick ourselves into thinking the attention received from men on our bodies is the same as his interest in our personality.
Men– How do you treat women? Do your actions and words encourage women to flaunt their inner beauty OR do your unrealistic images of physical beauty transform women into physical objects to be had?
I look forward to The World Race, being in an environment where working out at the gym is not an option and unhealthy American food is no longer available. Where my body can be used to glorify God on a daily basis and a perfect appearance is impossible to be had due to the lack of resources (straightener, make-up, etc.). Where I am not striving to find a man aka my actions and words towards the opposite sex are pure with no hidden agendas. To simply be with God and learn how to be like God.
Here is why I'm disturbed.
- Why is it so difficult to obtain this in America?
- Why do I feel this can only be accomplished in a foreign country?
- How can beauty once again be something that we possess and not something we strive to obtain?
- How does our health and body imgae become a Kingdom matter?
I don't have an exact answer or method, but I do know that we have to redefine beauty and pray to see it in ourselves. Pray to see it for what it truly is and not trick ourselves into thinking it is unattainable. Pray that we learn how to bring out the beauty in those around us, to refrain from negative self-talk and replace it with encouragement. I'm sick of being owned by this fake version of beauty and I've decided to search for the true meaning of beauty.
"to grant to those who mourn in Zion- to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified." -Isaiah 61:3
A role model of a woman who has truly discovered her beauty>>Miss Queen Latifah
May you find your true beauty and may we all be about the Kingdom.
Your beautiful sister,
Ellie
